Zverev’s Shining Moment

Alexander Zverev climbs tennis’ mountaintop with French Open triumph

“For the rest of your life, men… nobody could ever tell you that you couldn’t do it because you did it.” It’s the famous NFL Films soundbite from Bill Parcells after his New York Giants won Super Bowl XXI, and represents a message that has weight across all sports. Once you have climbed the proverbial mountain top, the accomplishment can’t be taken away.

Alexander Zverev has finally reached the peak of his sport. The German captured the first major title of his career at this year’s French Open, overcoming Italian Flavio Cobolli in the finals, but as well as his own demons. Competing in the fourth major final of his career, and attempting to shake off the title of the ‘best player without a Slam’, Zverev battled past Cobolli in a five set thriller.

“Now, no  matter what happens, I will always be a Grand Slam champion, and nobody can take that away from me,” Zverev said plainly in his post-championship press conference, where he was, by his own admission, a little drunk already from celebrating. “That does give me some freedom. Maybe my mind will just be a little bit calmer when I play a final, meaning that even if I lose it, I will still be a Grand Slam champion. This trophy for me is very important, because if I would have lost this one, the self-belief would have gone down a lot. But now that I’ve won it, I feel like I can do it again.”

It’s rare to hear an athlete speak so bluntly about his own thoughts, and his own insecurities regarding his own career. But it’s clear that Zverev heard all the noise spoken about him and how, despite being a mainstay in the top five and one of the best players in the world, he was still missing a crucial accomplishment.

It’s not without reason. Zverev didn’t only lose his previous three major finals, he lost them in devastating fashion. His first was at the 2020 U.S. Open when he won the first two sets against Dominic Thiem, only to see his Austrian opponent win the next three sets.

At the 2024 French Open, he held a two-sets-to-one lead over Carlos Alcaraz. But instead of this being his moment, he won only three games the rest of the way, and Alcaraz won the final two sets handily to win his first French Open title, once again leaving Zverev empty handed.

In his next chance at that elusive major title, he was beaten by Jannik Sinner in straight sets at the 2025 Australian Open.

“I’m doing everything I can. I’m working as hard as I ever did. I think I’m doing all the right things off-court. I think I’m practicing the right things, but I lost in straight sets today,” a dejected Zverev said after that loss. “Those are the facts. I lost to Jannik in straight sets today. I don’t want to end my career as the best player of all-time to never win a Grand Slam, that’s for sure. I’ll keep doing everything I can to lift one of those trophies.”

Zverev continued to put in the work and while his confidence may have taken a hit, and those doubts creeped in, he never wavered. He caught some breaks at this year’s French Open, as he did not have to go through the two players who have dominated the major landscape over the last few years. The two-time defending champion Alcaraz withdrew before the tournament as he nurses a wrist injury, and Sinner fell in his second round match as he was overcome by cramps. If Zverev was to ever win a major, this was his best opportunity.

Another key difference between Zverev’s previous major attempts and this one was his serve. Something he struggled with in big moments over his career was now a weapon he can rely on in those same pressure-packed situations.

“I think it’s difficult to compare…but that was the time when I had real struggles with my serve and my second serve,” he said ahead of his match against Cobolli. “I knew that my serve could break down at any moment. That’s one difference that I do feel now, luckily for me. It’s a shot that helped me a lot throughout my two weeks here. In the most important moments I could rely on that to bail me out when I was not playing well from the baseline. It’s definitely a shot that I’ve struggled with. I lost the 2020 U.S. Open because of that shot. I spent a lot of hours working on it. I’m happy that it won me this trophy.”

With all of that working in his favor, Zverev entered the final as the favorite, and was in control early, winning the opening set 6-1. After the two traded the second and third sets, Zverev was, once again, one set away from his crowning achievement. However, Cobolli delivered remarkable winners in the fourth set tiebreaker, sealing it with a forehand winner up the line to even the match, and send the Roland Garros final into a deciding fifth set.

Zverev could have easily let the remanence of those previous shortcomings crawl back to the front of his mind. But not this time. Not on this day. The 29-year-old German played perhaps the best set of tennis in his life, considering the stakes, blitzing his Italian opponent from the start. He broke in the opening game to take back control, and never looked back.

Zverev would win six of the set’s seven games to close out the 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 victory, the biggest and most significant of his career.

“When I saw my box, and they all kind of celebrated, that’s when I realized that I’ve won,” said Zverev. “Especially seeing my father raise up his arms, that was when it kind of hit me that I won. Then when I was on the ground, all the emotions came out because I think this court is very, very special to me. It’s special in a very positive way, but also special in a negative way because I had some of the toughest moments of my life and tennis career here.”

He explained some of the toughest moments he dealt with here, but that this moment will now trump them all.

“I was laying on this court with an injury that I didn’t know if I would ever come back from. I lost a Grand Slam final here. All of those memories, they are not wiped out, they are still with me, but this one will beat all of them.”

It’s been a long journey for Zverev, and one that came with many ups and downs, all of which culminated in the emotions that came pouring through when he fell to the ground in victory. Zverev can now forever call himself a Grand Slam champion, and with the metaphorical monkey now ripped from his back, the only question remaining is: Can he win another?